first, america was founded on the christian religion and predominantly influenced by protestantism. by the 20th century, catholics and jews mayed an important role, the -- played an important role, even the progressives emerged from the liberal protestant churches. this reinforced the second exceptional pillar, common law, which which posits that god has given or that law is given from god to the people, and it bubbles upward to the rulers. this gives us the government of the people, by the people and for the people that lincoln referred to. common law stands in stark opposition to almost every other nation on earth that has developed some form of civil law in which law trickles down from the top. both germany and england had common law, but by the 20th century, both had nonetheless abandoned it. therefor, by the end of world war or ii when -- world war ii when europe unloaded its colonies, those colonies were themselves designed on principles of civil law. thus, the first two pillars taken together mean that a christian, protestant religion influenced and shaped everything about am